Game Developers Conference Online 10.09.12 – 10.11.12 | Austin, TX. This will be the tenth anniversary of what was once known as just the “Austin Game Conference.” It has always been focused on online, from the first day, back when getting together enough people to talk about online games for multiple days was a [...]

It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first [...]

It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first [...]

The blog’s hosting server is getting an upgrade sometime in the next 48 hours… there will likely be some downtime in the early morning hours. They tell me it may last up to a couple of hours.

The blog’s hosting server is getting an upgrade sometime in the next 48 hours… there will likely be some downtime in the early morning hours. They tell me it may last up to a couple of hours.

I’m on the Advisory Board again this year. Submit your talks! GDC Online 2012 Call for Speakers Open through May 2 The call for submissions to present lectures, roundtables, full day tutorials and panels at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Online 2012 is now open through Wednesday, May 2nd. GDC Online focuses on the development [...]

I’m on the Advisory Board again this year. Submit your talks! GDC Online 2012 Call for Speakers Open through May 2 The call for submissions to present lectures, roundtables, full day tutorials and panels at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Online 2012 is now open through Wednesday, May 2nd. GDC Online focuses on the development [...]

I went to the Art of Video Games exhibit at the Smithsonian today. A few pics: All in all, it was basically a very well-put-together survey, with nothing really too provocative or illuminating to people really immersed in it all. But I would guess that for many of the adults there who were mostly reminiscing [...]

I went to the Art of Video Games exhibit at the Smithsonian today. A few pics: All in all, it was basically a very well-put-together survey, with nothing really too provocative or illuminating to people really immersed in it all. But I would guess that for many of the adults there who were mostly reminiscing [...]

Once upon a time, there was a game set in a science fiction universe where the economy was very important. Its name was not Eve. In this game, players could, if they so chose, run a business. They could designate a building as a shop hire an NPC bot to stand in it give the [...]

Once upon a time, there was a game set in a science fiction universe where the economy was very important. Its name was not Eve. In this game, players could, if they so chose, run a business. They could designate a building as a shop hire an NPC bot to stand in it give the [...]

This is post #2,342 on this blog (not counting the dozens of articles, snippets, and presentations not in the blog database)… yet more of the over a quarter-million words written here since the site started in 1997 and the blog in 1998. And I have to admit, I tend to take for granted the idea [...]

This is post #2,342 on this blog (not counting the dozens of articles, snippets, and presentations not in the blog database)… yet more of the over a quarter-million words written here since the site started in 1997 and the blog in 1998. And I have to admit, I tend to take for granted the idea [...]

I called this out as one of the trends I saw at GDC. Last year, people were saying that Farmville was not a game, and I argued that it was. This year, I wrote about narrative not being a mechanic and had to extend my comments on it because of the controversy, and Tadhg Kelly [...]

I called this out as one of the trends I saw at GDC. Last year, people were saying that Farmville was not a game, and I argued that it was. This year, I wrote about narrative not being a mechanic and had to extend my comments on it because of the controversy, and Tadhg Kelly [...]

Just some hastily scribbled notes here: The art & the science are at least yelling at each other across a divide, if not talking. Chris Crawford is more relevant than he has been in years. At least more discussed. People are now embracing things he said that they used to disdain. His face was put [...]

Just some hastily scribbled notes here: The art & the science are at least yelling at each other across a divide, if not talking. Chris Crawford is more relevant than he has been in years. At least more discussed. People are now embracing things he said that they used to disdain. His face was put [...]

Here’s the PDF: Koster_Raph_GDC2012.pdf Here’s the PPTX, which includes the speaker notes, which this time are extensive: Koster_Raph_GDC2012.pptx And the closest I can get to the speech itself is this page here, which has an image of each slide, followed by the notes… so you can just read it like an article. I imagine video [...]

Here’s the PDF: Koster_Raph_GDC2012.pdf Here’s the PPTX, which includes the speaker notes, which this time are extensive: Koster_Raph_GDC2012.pptx And the closest I can get to the speech itself is this page here, which has an image of each slide, followed by the notes… so you can just read it like an article. I imagine video [...]

I seem to have neglected to mention that I am speaking at GDC next week! I’ll be the last session of the Social and Online Games Summit, giving a quick half-hour session entitled “Good Design, Bad Design, Great Design” modelled after the blog post from a while back. What makes a design good or bad? [...]

I seem to have neglected to mention that I am speaking at GDC next week! I’ll be the last session of the Social and Online Games Summit, giving a quick half-hour session entitled “Good Design, Bad Design, Great Design” modelled after the blog post from a while back. What makes a design good or bad? [...]

Read them here: Ultima Online UO General Article: The Making of a Classic Part 1 and part two. I wasn’t able to really sit down with Adam Tingle, the author, but he did run around the blog archives a fair amount. There’s some inaccuracies here and there, but it’s a decent overview. Some things I [...]

Read them here: Ultima Online UO General Article: The Making of a Classic Part 1 and part two. I wasn’t able to really sit down with Adam Tingle, the author, but he did run around the blog archives a fair amount. There’s some inaccuracies here and there, but it’s a decent overview. Some things I [...]

Giovanni Viglietta of the University of Pisa has posted up a paper called “Gaming is a hard job, but someone has to do it!”.  In it, he not only analyzes a variety games to determine their complexity class, but he also arrives at a few metatheorems that are generically applicable for all game design. In [...]

Giovanni Viglietta of the University of Pisa has posted up a paper called “Gaming is a hard job, but someone has to do it!”.  In it, he not only analyzes a variety games to determine their complexity class, but he also arrives at a few metatheorems that are generically applicable for all game design. In [...]